Henry Cotter Nixon 1842-1907

[Alan Howe]

...mind you, the Romance for Violin and Orchestra is a lovely piece. I'm tempted to say that Cotter was better in less ambitious music.

Overall verdict: well worth reviving, but no hidden masterpieces here...

[Gareth Vaughan]

I'm looking forward to vol. 2 which, according to Martin, will contain the concert piece for piano & orchestra - that's what I'd like to hear.

[Mark Thomas]

Alan's assessment is absolutely spot on. I have nothing to add.

[jksteven]

Just received my CD from Records International. What a revelation! What has befallen Nixon has also befallen so many American composers whose music has gone unheard for nearly a century. Whatever the cause of his being forgotten over these years, it proves that it is high time many, many composers whose music is buried need a renaissance. Thank you Toccata Classics for this gem!

[Alan Howe]

I wouldn't say there's anything close to a revelation here - simply some very agreeable music.

[Gareth Vaughan]

I haven't heard the disk so I can't comment, but "very agreeable music" is a jolly good thing to have.  That's why I love Herz (who is certainly no forgotten master). There is an awful lot of thoroughly disagreeable music about! Maybe Nixon is worth only two cheers, not three. But cheers anyway, not boos, hisses or brickbats.

[Alan Howe]

Oh, I agree in general. It was the word 'revelation' that struck me as an exaggeration. I'm not sure that the comparison with Herz is all that helpful here, though - or appropriate. After all, Nixon was writing a highly ambitious, five-movement, 48-minute symphonic poem, not a pot-boiler, and so deserves to be assessed at the level of his ambition. Seen this way, agreeable music isn't really enough IMHO.

Having said which, after catching (and turning off) so much music of the Second Viennese School broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in recent days, Nixon comes as a blessed relief indeed. But one cheer will do...

[eschiss1]

Don't worry (or from my pov, unfortunately), their interest in some of the (purely musical) reasons why the 20th century wasn't the 19th century all over again (and if the 19th had been the 18th all over again, more Kozeluchs than Mozarts or Haydns but certainly no Schumanns, Liszts or Wagners- or Raffs, and where would this forum be?) is unlikely to be a lasting one...